Tales of Dragons
by Bria1
Summary: Not to be confused with the children's show Dragon Tales. Hopefully I'll be able to stimulate you a bit more than that :) This is a bit different thatn some of my other compositions. For one thing, it's a bit serious (suprise!) so read and review! :)
1. Introduction

~Tales of Dragons~  
  
In the ancient days the power of dragons was never underestimated. Villages lived in fear of their frequent appearances, scholars spent lifetimes studying their ways, kings trained soldiers for immortal combat, and mages lived within their magic as the souls of the exuisitely structured beings dared them to discover their secrets of sorcery.   
  
Not many remember that time, for it was long ago, at a date when no barrier held the realms apart. And yet it is spoken of today, for one final moment, so that the thoughts and provoking lives of those of the past are acknowledged. The tales are told today so that the fine line between fact and myth remains clear. May that line never blur, for it is this line that truly separates the physical self from that of a dream. And so the story begins...a tapastry of tales with intertwining threads that weave the solutions to some of the greatest mysteries of Tortall. The tapastry is still being woven, and someday the fate of all of the Eastern lands will be in the hands of the past. Whether this past is forgotten or remembered could bring peace in the end...yet still it is up to those souls who currently call the eath their home. Things will happen between now and then. Many already have. Yes,...much is to happen...  
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This is the Introduction. Read on to the first real chapter. :)  



	2. Summer Skies

~Tales of Dragons~  
  
Dedicate Starfire of the Temple of Mithros stared quizzically at the morning summer sky. It was not the first time that day that his eyes had met the clouds or that his neck be twisted upward as if held on a string by an invisible hand. There was something in the sky, thought the inquisitive dedicate was just not sure what it was. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. The returning birds still sang, the temple bells still chimed loudly on the hour, and the rolling winds still whipped through the gardens blowing strands of sandy hair across his face. Yet there was something there...knawing at the back of his mind, like a parasite devouring its prey from the inside out. A parasite...that was a fine way to put it, the man decided. It was like a log that looked fine on the outside for quite awhile, until the damage done to the inside was revealed through either time or someone trying to sit down on in and finding it collapse under their weight.   
  
Starfire turned back to the temple garden, still hammering his brain for any word to put with the ever present sense of....there was no word. It wouldn't come, and deciding that only a headache would come from more pondering, he forced his mind to return to his tasks.   
  
Working the scattered twigs and brambles from the soggy earth, he tended the plants with the fertilizers he'd been given. The feeling returned, but he commanded himself to keep to his weeding. And he did, for a while at least, but little did he know that he was not the only one being tormented. In fact at that very moment others were sharing his thoughts. The stories of the others could be told later, but in the matter of the dragons, the only one who need be mentioned was a young girl of merchant's daughter of thirteen years.  
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Carinlilianna of the merchant house Delander was always the one awake before the others. There was something about that first glimpse of morning sun that made her feel at peace with the world. She didn't mind that her waking was soon followed by an hour or two of chores or that the coolness of the northern air often forced her to grab a shawl as she finished her work. Each morning followed the same routine, that is...every morning until this.   
  
Carin suddenly dropped her tub of washing water. Suds sloshed against the sides of the confinement splashing all within a yard of it's landing place, but somehow this care was pushed aside and the water went unnoticed by the startled girl.   
  
She ran to the window and threw open the shutters. The sky hung over the mountainous land and covered the townships with the firey rays of dawn. Carin gazed at the newly formed clouds. She could see nothing, yet she was positive that something was not quite right. She stared harder as if hoping to see through the clouds. She sensed magic. *Oh, drat.* She thought to herself. It was probably just another mage whose practice spells had gone awry. Mages were always doing things like that. Setting things afire and changing the weather patterns. Why could they simply leave nature to its ways? Why did they always have to alter things just to prove their power?   
  
Carin herself possessed no magic, and was fair proud to leave things to their own resources. She had no interest in things you couldn't see or hold, and was happier when just left with a book or two. But there was something about this feeling...all of the sudden, Carin began to doubt her original resolution. Could a human, even a magical one, ever create something as...odd...as this? She wan't sure.   
  
The spilled washing called her attention back to it. She drew from the window and snatched a rag from a nearby shelf. Raising her skirts, she bent down to soak the water from the sighing wooden floors. "Smashing." She remarked aloud. "First I sense things then I drop others." By now most of the water had returned to pan. and the thought of the strange feeling from the sky was put second to that of finishing chores.   
  
Moments later, the wind surrounding the sturdy house increased it speed and threw itself in twirling ropes at the window near the kitchen. Carin let out cry of bewilderment and the shutters flew from their hinges and the startling warm wind came crashing through the frame and into the room. The washpan, still full of soapy well-water began to shine with an unworldy glow. The soap began to writhe and bend its way into an an recognizable shape. There were patterns now, and textures transforming the liquid in the pan into a living picture of a tree. It became clearer, all the while radiating the eerie glow from within. Wind howled once more.   
  
"Child of Mithros..." Carin screamed and grabbed her ears. The voice blossomed with a power never meant for those of earth to possess.   
  
"Patience, child..." The air began to whirl, a roar filled the open room, and then everything went dim as the light rushed from the house and the merchant girl call Carin fell from counsciousness...  
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Hmmm...do you like it? I hope so :) I have big plans for this story.  
  



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